BARTLESVILLE, Okla. — When you get into postseason play, it’s usually a good idea to throw win-loss records out the window. That’s the way it is in this weekend’s Great American Conference men’s basketball tournament.

All eight teams have a number next to their name indicating their seed, but based upon what happened during the regular season, those seeds don’t add up to a hill of beans.

Arkansas Tech (16-10), the defending champion and No. 2 seed in the tournament, will battle No. 7 seed Henderson State (14-12) at 2:30 p.m. today inside the Bruin Fieldhouse. Pre-game coverage on KWKK 100.9 FM will begin at 2:15 p.m. The broadcast can be heard online at athletics.atu.edu.

ATU and Harding finished atop the regular-season GAC standings with 13-7 records — proof that there was a narrow gap between the top and bottom of the league in men’s basketball.

“There hasn’t been one game in this conference this season when you could just show up and count on winning,” said Wonder Boys head coach Doug Karleskint, who has won more games (67) in his first three seasons as Arkansas Tech head men’s basketball coach than anyone in history. “I would be shocked if there were any lop-sided scores in this tournament. I think every game will come down to a handful of possessions. We’re looking forward to competing and seeing what we can do.”

Need some more proof of the balance of this tournament? Today’s 6 p.m. meeting features top-seeded Harding and eighth-seeded Southern Arkansas — but the Bisons and Muleriders played three overtimes during their two regular-season meetings.

Arkansas Tech has a fresh memory of why it cannot take Henderson State lightly. The Reddies led the Wonder Boys by 10 points with less than six minutes to go when they met in Arkadelphia on Feb. 16. ATU had to close the game on a 13-1 run, including the game-winning layup by Willie Kirkland with 1.3 seconds left, and escaped the Duke Wells Center with a 70-68 victory.

Kirkland, a senior guard from Graceville, Fla., averaged 28.5 points per game in two regular season meetings against HSU. He scored 26 points in the Wonder Boys’ 75-63 win over the Reddies on Jan. 12 and a career-high 31 points at Arkadelphia last month.

Karleskint said he knows his friend and former assistant coach, Doug Nichols, now in his second season as the head coach at Henderson State, has been busy formulating a way to contain Kirkland today.

“We’re at our best, just like most teams, when we have three guys scoring and we can balance it out,” Karleskint said. “We relied on Willie almost too much at Henderson State. Coach Nichols is going to do something to limit Willie’s touches. You can almost guarantee that. We need some other guys to step up and hit some shots regardless of what defense we face.”

Kirkland (13.8 ppg) and senior guard Jared Williamson of Russellville (11.9 ppg) were ATU’s leading scorers during the regular season.

Senior center Will Paul of Corpus Christi, Texas, was averaging 11.9 points per game for the Wonder Boys before a foot injury on Jan. 17 sidelined him for the remainder of the regular season. Paul dressed out for Senior Day ceremonies but did not play in Arkansas Tech’s regular-season finale against East Central last Saturday. His availability for this weekend’s GAC Tournament is uncertain.

The Reddies, who won three of their last four games, are led by senior forward Andrew Ensley of Dallas, Texas (16.3 points, 7.4 rebounds per game) and junior guard Melvin Haynes of Akron, Ohio (13 ppg, 41 percent 3-point shooter).

“We have some seniors who treated each practice this week as if it was their last,” Karleskint said. “That was good to see. Hopefully we can just keep on fighting and live for a few more days.”